Promises Made, Promises Broken - SYTYCW (Bad Reputation)

Present Day (Chapter Twenty-Two) Thursday

Tucker

I shouldn't have been terribly surprised to find Mark standing outside the door after my first class of the day on Thursday morning.  What I should've been surprised by was the fact that it took so long for him to seek me out again.  After all, when he decided he wanted something, he usually went after it with a vengeance.

"No," I said to him automatically.

"Hear me out," he replied, and pushed his glasses up on his nose in the way that I used to find endearing.

"No." I turned to walk away.

"Did you like the gift I sent you?"

I froze. "What gift?"

"I took a guess that you were the same size."

The dress.  Mark bought it.  Why did I think it had been Joey?  

Maybe because you wanted it to be Joey, I answered myself.

"Was I right?"

"I don't want it," I replied stiffly.

"You can wear it out on tomorrow night."

"I'm not going out with you tomorrow."

"C'mon, Tucks. Let me at least try and convince you."

"What're you going to offer me now?" I asked. "First cash, then a dress. What's next?"

"An explanation," he said.

"A what?"

He waited silently, as if he knew I would make the connection eventually.  And after a heartbeat, I did.  My stomach suddenly felt like it was full of lead.

"You know you want one," Mark prodded.

"Of course I do," I whispered.

"And I'll give you one."

I stared at him, willing myself not to care.  But a big part of me wanted to jump on the chance to know why he had let our relationship go, why he had given up on something that was so good.

Who wouldn't wonder? Who wouldn't turn it over and over again in her mind, second-guessing the things that had made a mutual life like ours tick? What's one little date in exchange for that?

I opened my mouth to agree, sickened at my immediate willingness to be manipulated in exchange for the answer I knew that I shouldn't have to earn.  Then I looked over Mark's shoulder and spotted Joey.  His back was to me, but I knew it was him.  He was dressed in narrow-hipped, boot-cut denim and a short-sleeved jade-coloured dress shirt.  When he brought a hand up to massage his own neck, he turned sideways, exposing a haggard expression.

What happened?

I took an automatic step toward him but Mark grabbed my elbow and pulled me back. 

"We're not done talking yet."

I looked up at his face, studying him.  He smiled.  Once, I had loved his smile.  Or believed I did.  I'd also thought his cocky self-assurance was a front for the sweet, self-conscious guy underneath.  I saw now that it wasn't.  He genuinely believed he was that good.

"I need to go."

"Not until you give me an answer about tomorrow."

Eager to get rid of him, I nodded.  His satisfied grin almost made me retract my offer, but all I wanted was to get to Joey.  I took off in the direction I thought I'd seen him disappear.